Paul Waldman has written a long, pleading lament to Mrs. Clinton, begging her to see the error of her prideful, secretive ways, and be that person he imagines her to be:

When I talk to liberals about the endless scandal wars of the 1990s, the word that comes up most often is “exhausting.” It’s true that it’s been pretty exhausting arguing for six years about Barack Obama’s birth certificate and whether he loves America. Every Democratic presidency will bring its own flavor of Republican obsession. But the Clinton years were something unique.

It wasn’t just that Republicans went on a binge of hearings and conspiracy theorizing and faux outrage. It was that at the heart of every scandal, no matter how disproportionate or ridiculous the Republican response, there was a kernel of truth. Again and again, we suffered through a pseudo-scandal in which Republicans made grandiose charges for which there was little or no evidence. But every one started the same way: with some questionable decision on your part, your husband’s, or both. You may not have broken the law, but you screwed up, in ways that gave your opponents enough material to crank up the calliope of scandal-mongering. Then you inevitably fought the release of information, which may have seemed like smart strategizing at the time but had the effect of dragging everything out interminably.

…

You’ve come a long way to get here, and this time there is no hotshot young senator ready to take you out in the primaries. But for all the distance you have traveled, there are still things you need to prove. You need to prove that you can accept responsibility when it’s necessary. You need to prove that you can learn from your mistakes and correct your shortcomings. Perhaps most of all, you need to prove that you’re worthy of what you’re asking of your supporters: their time, their money, their enthusiasm, but most importantly, their trust.

…

Liberals want to put their faith in you, but they still have reasons to doubt.

He is trying so, so hard. Why? Because all the Ds think she is the ONLY person who is electable? Or is it that she is the only one who can raise enough money? Why do they want to want her so badly? Face it folks: She doesn’t trust ANYONE, so she is going to continue all this horrible secrecy, which is indefensible in government. In addition, her supporters are a who’s who of big corporate interests. She IS crony capitalism, personified. If this is not what you really, really want, then you need to find someone else. I mean, really, she is just a more honest version of Obama, or at least one who has been more honestly revealed whether she wanted to be or not (clearly not).

I have not read up a lot on this private email stuff because I find it so infuriating. But I have not seen anyone yet make the point that Obama clearly had to know. Mr. Transparency MUST have received and sent emails to/from this private email address, and he must have known that it was not a government address.